Chronology

chronology

[krə′näl·ə·jē]

(science and technology)

The arrangement of data in order of time of appearance.

Chronology

a system for reckoning long periods of time.

The starting point in a system of chronology may be a real or legendary event and is called the era. The system of chronology itself is often also called the era. The system of chronology accepted in most countries in the modern epoch is called the Common Era (Russian, novaia era, nasha era).

Chronology

a system of measuring time. A distinction is made between astronomical (or mathematical) chronology and historical chronology. The former studies various regularities of recurring celestial phenomena and establishes the exact astronomical time through computations, while the latter is an auxiliary historical discipline that determines the exact dates of historical events and documents through the comparative study of written and archaeological sources.

The observation of natural phenomena in antiquity and extremely complex mathematical calculations for determining time contributed to the emergence of chronology in the ancient states of Babylonia and Egypt. Much work was done in chronology in ancient Greece (Eratosthenes, Callippos) and Rome (Varro, Censorinus, Ptolemy, Macrobius), as well as during the Middle Ages (Venerable Bede, al-Biruni, Kirik). In the 16th century the French scholar Joseph Scalinger systematized historical chronology by developing accurate methods for converting various systems of reckoning time to the Julian calendar. The general theory and history of chronology was set forth in the 19th century by the German scientist L. Ideler and developed in the early 20th century by the German scientist F. Ginzel.

In the 20th century, works on chronology deal in great depth with different systems of reckoning time and ways of determining time in the calendars of various peoples, for instance, by season, by the rise of constellations, or by various phenomena, such as eclipses and earthquakes. Scholars convert to the modern system of reckoning time the dates of ancient events known from sources dating from the years of rule of pharaohs (in Egypt), archons (in Athens), and consuls and emperors (in Rome) and the terms of office of popes and patriarchs. Of great importance for the development of chronology has been its increasing contacts with archaeology and the natural sciences and the use of computers.

1540’s–1560’s. First units of strel’tsy (semiprofessional musketeers) are formed.

1545–46. Part of the region inhabited by the Chuvash and Mari is incorporated into the Russian state.

1549. The first zemskii sobor (national assembly) is convened.

1550. The Sudebnik (Code) of Ivan IV is completed.

1551. The Stoglav Synod is convened.

1552. Kazan is taken.

1552–57. The Mari, Udmurts, Bashkirs, and Tatars are incorporated into the Russian state. Cherkess and Kabardin princes acknowledge vassalage to Russia.

1554. The Muscovy Company, an English trading company, is founded for trade with the Russian state.

1555. Georgia and Armenia are partitioned by Iran and the Ottoman Empire.

1555–56. The kormlenie system, under which local officials are supported at the expense of the population, is abolished, and the guba (administrative district) reform and the reform of the land of Ivan IV are completed.

1556. The Astrakhan Khanate is incorporated into the Russian state.

1558–83. The Livonian War takes place, with Russia fighting the Livonian Order, Sweden, Poland, and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for control of the Baltic region.

1561. The Livonian Order disintegrates. The Duchy of Courland is formed.

March 1564. Ivan Fedorov and Petr Mstislavets publish the first Russian printed book, the Apostol (Acts of the Apostles and epistles), in Moscow.

1565. The oprichnina is introduced.

1566. The Second Lithuanian Statute is confirmed.

1569. Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania unite to form a single state, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, under the Union of Lublin.

1571. The Crimean khan, Devlet-Girei, raids Moscow.

Circa 1581. Ermak undertakes a campaign in Siberia.

1581. First known forbidden year (zapovednyi god), during which peasants are forbidden to move from one landowner to another.

1582. Treaty is concluded between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth near lam Zapol’skii, under which the two sides agree to a ten-year period of peace and Russia relinquishes Livonia.

1583. The Truce of Pliussa between Russia and Sweden begins.

1584–89. The Calendar Disturbances, a rebellion of the burgher opposition against the patriciate, take place in Riga.

1584–98. Tsar Fedor Ivanovich, the last tsar of the Riurikovichi, rules.

1588. The Third Lithuanian Statute is confirmed.

1589. The patriarchate is established in Russia.

1590–93. War takes place between Russia and Sweden. The cities of lam, Ivangorod, Kopor’e, and Korela are returned to Russia.

1591–93. K. Kosinskii leads an antifeudal uprising in the Ukraine.

1594–96. S. Nalivaiko and G. Loboda lead an antifeudal uprising in the Ukraine and Byelorussia.

1595. The Peace Treaty of Teusina is concluded between Russia and Sweden.

1596. The Catholic and Orthodox churches in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth merge under the Brest Union.

February 1597. Ukase regarding the kabal’nye kholopy (bondmen whose indentureship is in payment of a debt) is issued.

November 1597. Ukase establishing a five-year limit for finding and recovering fugitive peasants is issued.

1598. The Siberian Khanate is incorporated into Russia.

1598–1605. Tsar Boris Fedorovich Godunov rules.

Late 16th century. The Greater, Middle, and Lesser Kazakh hordes are formed.

1603. Khlopko leads an antifeudal uprising of peasants and kholopy (bondmen) in the Russian state.

1604. The Yerevan (Erivan) Khanate is formed.

1605–06. The First False Dmitrii rules as tsar.

May 17, 1606. Uprising takes place in Moscow against the Polish interventionists. The First False Dmitrii is killed.

1841–45. Antifeudal disturbances take place among state peasants as a result of P. D. Kiselev’s reform.

Apr. 2, 1842. Ukase on obiazannye krest’iane (obligated peasants) is issued, according to which, with the agreement of the pomeshchik (landowner), a peasant can obtain his personal freedom, with the pomeshchik retaining ownership of the land.

1842–45. Peasant disturbances take place in the Baltic region.

1845–49. Petrashevskii circle exists in St. Petersburg.

Late 1845 and early 1846. The Society of Cyril and Methodius is formed in the Ukraine.

May to August 1849. Tsarist government helps crush a revolution in Hungary.

1849. The Sormovo Shipyard is founded.

1851. The Nikolaevskaia Railroad is opened between St. Petersburg and Moscow.

February 1853. A. I. Herzen founds the Free Russian Printing House in London.

1853. General V. A. Perovskii carries out a campaign against the Kokand Khanate.

1853–56. The Crimean War takes place between Russia and a coalition consisting of Great Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire, and Sardinia.

November 9. Ukase is issued permitting the peasant to leave the obshchina (village commune) and establish his own khutor (farmstead). (The ukase marks the beginning of P. A. Stoly-pin’s agrarian reform.)

February 20 to June 2. The Second State Duma meets.

April 30 to May 19 (May 13 to June 1). The Fifth Congress of the RSDLP is held in London.

June 3. The coup d’etat of June 3 takes place. New electoral law is enacted.

August. Anglo-Russian agreement is signed. Anglo-Russo-French alliance known as the Entente is formalized.

Nov. 1, 1907, to June 9, 1912. The Third State Duma meets.

May. Lenin’s Materialism and Empiriocriticism is published.

June 14. The Third State Duma passes a law confirming the ukase of Nov. 9, 1906.

December 16 (29). First issue of Zvezda (Star), a legal Bolshevik newspaper, is published in St. Petersburg.

December. The Russian-Asiatic Bank is established.

January 5–17 (18–30). The Sixth (Prague) All-Russian Conference of the RSDLP is held.

April 4. The Lena massacre takes place.

April 22 (May 5). First issue of the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda is published.

April. May Day strikes take place throughout Russia.

July. The Turkestan Sappers’ Revolt takes place.

Nov. 15, 1912, to Oct. 6 (19), 1917. The Fourth State Duma meets.

Dec. 26, 1912, to Jan. 1, 1913 (Jan. 8–14, 1913). Kraków meeting of the Central Committee of the RSDLP and party workers is held.

September 13 (October 6) to October 1 (14). Poronin meeting of the Central Committee of the RSDLP with party officials is held.

September and October. Legal proceedings known as the Beilis case take place in Kiev.

May. General strike begins in Baku.

July 19 (August 1). Germany declares war on Russia.

July. Strikes take place at the Putilov Factory in St. Petersburg and in other cities.

July and August. The All-Russian Zemstvo Union for Aid to Sick and Wounded Soldiers and the All-Russian Union of Cities (Zemstvo and Municipal unions) are formed.

August 4 (17) to September 2 (15). The Augustów Operation is carried out on the Russo-German Front.

August 5 (18) to September 8 (21). The battle of Galicia is fought on the Russo-Austrian Front.

September 15 (28) to October 26 (November 8). The Warsaw-Ivangorod Operation is carried out on the Russo-German Front.

October 20. Russia declares war on the Ottoman Empire.

October 29 to November 11 (November 11–24). The Łódź Operation is carried out on the Russo-German Front.

November 1 (14). The Central Committee of the RSDLP publishes a manifesto defining the party’s position on the imperialist war.

May to July. Special conferences and war industries committees are established. August. The Progressive Bloc, consisting of the bourgeois-landowner parties in the Fourth State Duma, is formed. Special conferences are established to deal with defense, with fuel, with the transportation of fuel, food, and war matériel, and with refugee assistance.

September 5–8. The Zimmerwald Conference, attended by Lenin and other internationalists, is held.

January to June. Lenin works on Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, which is published in 1917.

April 24–30. The Kienthal Conference, attended by internationalists, is held.

May 22 to July 31 (June 4 to August 13). Forces of the Southwestern Front carry out the offensive known as the Brusilov breakthrough.

July 1916 to January 1917. Antifeudal and anti-imperialist uprising takes place in Middle Asia and Kazakhstan.

February 23 (March 8). Female workers in St. Petersburg respond to the call of the Central Committee of the Bolsheviks and demonstrate against hunger, war, and tsarism.

February 25–26 (March 10–11). General strike takes place in Petrograd.

February 26 (March 11). Nicholas II issues a ukase proroguing the State Duma.

February 27 (March 12). The February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution in Russia is victorious, the autocracy being overthrown. The Provisional Committee of the State Duma, headed by M. V. Rodzianko, is formed, as is the Petrograd soviet of workers’ and soldiers’ deputies.

February 28 (March 13). First issue of the newspaper Izvestiia Petrogradskogo Soveta (Proceedings of the Petrograd Soviet), the official organ of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee beginning in October 1917, is published.

March 1 (14). The Moscow soviet of workers’ and soldiers’ deputies is formed.

March 2 (15). The Bourgeois Provisional Government is formed in Russia. Nicholas II abdicates.

March 4 (17). The Bourgeois nationalist Central Rada is established in the Ukraine.

March 5 (18). Pravda resumes publication.

April 3 (16). Lenin returns to Petrograd from exile abroad.

April 4 (17). At a Bolshevik meeting, Lenin delivers the report “On the Tasks of the Proletariat in the Present Revolution,” containing the “April Theses.”

April 15 (28). First issue of the Bolshevik newspaper Soldatskaia pravda (Soldiers’ Pravda) is published.

October 10 (23). The Central Committee of the Bolshevik party meets. It adopts Lenin’s resolution stating that the time is ripe for an armed uprising. The Politburo is formed, and Lenin is named its leader.

October 12 (25). Military revolutionary committee, the organizational center of the armed uprising, is established in Petrograd.

October 16 (29). At an expanded session, the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party adopts Lenin’s resolution on preparing the armed uprising and elects the party’s Military Revolutionary Center to direct the uprising.

October 25 (November 7). The Great October Socialist Revolution is victorious. Soviet power is established in Petrograd. The military revolutionary committee issues the appeal “To the Citizens of Russia!”

October 25–27 (November 7–9). The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies is held in Petrograd. It approves the Decree on Peace and Decree on Land, establishes the Council of People’s Commissars under Lenin, and elects the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

October 25 (November 7) to March 1918. Triumphant march of Soviet power sweeps across the entire country.

October 26 (November 8). The bourgeois Provisional Government is arrested at the Winter Palace.

October 29 (November 11). The decree On an Eight-hour Workday is issued by the Council of People’s Commissars.

October 29. The Junker Rebellion, organized by counterrevolutionaries and directed by the Committee to Save the Homeland and Revolution, is crushed in Petrograd.

November 1 (24). The counterrevolutionary Kerensky-Krasnov Revolt is put down near Petrograd.

November 2 (15). The Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia is adopted by the Council of People’s Commissars.

November 8 (21). Ia. M. Sverdlov is elected chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

November 10 (23). Social estates and civilian ranks are abolished by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

November 11 (24) to November 25 (December 8). The Extraordinary All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Peasants’ Deputies is held in Petrograd.

November 14 (27). The Regulations on Workers’ Control are ratified by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

November 20 (December 3). The counterrevolutionary Headquarters of the Supreme Commander in Chief, in Mogilev, is abolished. Negotiations begin in Brest-Litovsk on the conclusion of an armistice between the Soviet Republic and the countries of the German bloc. Soviet government issues the appeal “To All Muslim Toilers of Russia and the East.”

November 22 (December 5). The Council of People’s Commissars issues a decree organizing the courts on the basis of democratic elections and instituting revolutionary tribunals.

December 2 (15). The Supreme Council on the National Economy is established by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars. Armistice agreement is signed with Germany in Brest-Litovsk.

December 7 (20). The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (Cheka), headed by F. E. Dzerzhinskii, is established by decree of the Council of People’s Commissars.

December 11–12 (24–25). The First All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets is held in Kharkov. The Ukrainian Soviet Republic is formed.

December 14 (27). Banks are nationalized by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

December 16 (29). The Council of People’s Commissars issues decrees democratizing the army.

December 18 (31). The Council of People’s Commissars issues a decree recognizing the independence of Finland.

1917. Soviet government issues a decree establishing the People’s Commissariat for Education, headed by A. V. Lunacharskii; a decree on the press; and a decree organizing the State Publishing House (Gosizdat).

January 5 (18). The Constituent Assembly is convened in Petrograd.

January 6 (19). The All-Russian Central Executive Committee issues a decree dissolving the Constituent Assembly, which refused to recognize the Soviet government and its decrees.

January 7–14 (20–27). The First All-Russian Congress of Trade Unions is held in Petrograd.

January 10–18 (23–31). The Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’, and Peasants’ Deputies is held in Petrograd.

January 12 (25). The Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People is adopted.

January 15 (28). The Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army is established by decree of the Council of People’s Commissars.

January 20 (February 2). The Council of People’s Commissars issues a decree on separation of church and state and on separation of school and church.

January 21 (February 3). The Decree on the Repudiation of the State’s Domestic and Foreign Debts is issued by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

January 24 (February 6). The Council of People’s Commissars issues a decree introducing the Gregorian calendar as of Feb. 14, 1918.

January 29 (February 11). The Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Navy is established by decree of the Council of People’s Commissars.

January and February. Counterrevolutionary mutinies led by Ataman A. M. Kaledin on the Don River and Ataman A. I. Dutov in the Southern Urals are crushed.

January to March. Bessarabia is occupied by bourgeois-landlord Rumania.

February 17 to May 2. Ships are moved from Revel and Helsing-fors to Kronstadt in an operation known as the Ice Campaign of the Baltic Fleet.

February 18. Austro-German forces launch an offensive against Soviet Russia.

February 19. The Fundamental Law on Socialization of the Land is published by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

February 22. The appeal “The Socialist Fatherland Is in Danger!” is published by the Council of People’s Commissars.

February 23. Soviet troops repulse the kaiser’s forces near Pskov and Narva. (February 23 subsequently is celebrated as Red Army Day.)

March 1. Kaiser’s forces capture Kiev.

March 3. The Brest-Litovsk Treaty is signed. Russia withdraws from World War I.

March 6–8. The Seventh Party Congress is held in Petrograd. Party’s name is changed from the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolshevik) to the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik).

March 9. British forces land in Murmansk.

March 10–11. Soviet government is moved from Petrograd to Moscow, which becomes the capital of the Soviet Republic on March 12.

March 14–16. The Extraordinary Fourth All-Russian Congress of Soviets is held in Moscow. The Brest-Litovsk Treaty is ratified.

March. The Second Congress of the Peoples of Terek, held in Piatigorsk, proclaims Soviet power in the Northern Caucasus.

April 12. The decree On Removing Monuments Erected in Honor of the Tsars and Their Servants and Developing Projects for Monuments Dedicated to the Russian Socialist Revolution (On Monuments of the Republic) is issued by the Council of People’s Commissars, thereby beginning the implementation of Lenin’s plan for monument propaganda.

April 22. Foreign trade is nationalized by decree of the Council of People’s Commissars. Decree on universal military training for workers and toiling peasants aged 18 to 40 is issued by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

April 28. Lenin’s article “The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government” is published.

April 30. The Turkestan ASSR is formed.

April. Japanese and British interventionists land in Vladivostok.

May 2. The decree On the Nationalization of the Sugar Industry is issued by the Council of People’s Commissars, which for the first time nationalizes an entire idustry.

May 13. The decree On Granting the People’s Commissar for Foodstuffs Extraordinary Powers for the Struggle Against the Rural Bourgeoisie, Which Is Hoarding and Speculating in Grain Supplies is issued by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars.

May 25. The Czechoslovak Corps stages an anti-Soviet mutiny.

May 29. Decree on a general mobilization for service in the Red Army is issued by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

June 8. White Guards and interventionists capture Samara, where a government of White Guards and Socialist Revolutionaries, the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly, is established.

June 11. Decree on organizing committees of the poor (kombedy) is issued by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

June 23. The counterrevolutionary Provisional Siberian Government is established in Omsk.

June 28. Large-scale industry and railroad enterprises are nationalized by decree of the Council of People’s Commissars.

June 29. White Guards and interventionists capture Vladivostok.

July 4–10. The Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets is held in Moscow. It ratifies the first Soviet constitution—the Constitution of the RSFSR.

July 6–7. Left Socialist Revolutionaries stage a revolt in Moscow.

July 6–21. Anti-Soviet revolt takes place in Yaroslavl.

July 1918 to June 1919. Tsaritsyn is defended against White Guard forces.

August 2. British, American, and French interventionists land in Arkhangel’sk.

August 4. British interventionists occupy Baku.

August 30. Perfidious attempt is made on Lenin’s life at the former Mikhel’son Plant in Moscow.

September 2. The Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic is established.

September 4. Private railroads are nationalized by decree of the Council of People’s Commissars.

September 10. Kazan is liberated from White Guard forces.

September 12. Simbirsk is liberated from White Guard forces.

September 14. International metric system of weights and measures is introduced by decree of the Council of People’s Commissars.

November 29. The Provisional Workers’ and Peasants’ Government of the Ukraine publishes a manifesto calling for the overthrow of Hetmán P. P. Skoropadskii and the restoration of Soviet power in the Ukraine.

November 29. The Estlandia Labor Commune is proclaimed in Narva.

November 30. The Council of Workers’ and Peasants’ Defense, headed by Lenin, is established by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

November. Anglo-French squadron arrives in Odessa.

November and December. Austro-German occupation forces are driven out of the Soviet Republic.

December 2. The decree On Abolishing Foreign Banks in the RSFSR is issued by the Council of People’s Commissars.

December 9. The Code of Labor Laws is ratified by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

December 11–20. The First All-Russian Congress of Land Departments, Committees of the Poor, and Communes is held. Lenin delivers a speech.

December 16. Soviet power is established in Lithuania.

December 17. Soviet power is established in Latvia.

January 1. The Byelorussian SSR is formed.

January 3. Insurgent workers and Latvian riflemen liberate Riga from the German interventionists with the help of the Red Army.

January 11. Surplus-appropriation system is instituted by decree of the Council of People’s Commissars.

January 16–25. The Second All-Russian Congress of Trade Unions is held in Moscow.

March 2–6. The First Congress of the Communist International (Comintern) is held in Moscow. Lenin delivers a speech.

March 18–23. The Eighth Congress of the RCP(B) is held in Moscow. New party program is adopted. Lenin delivers a speech.

March 23. The Bashkir ASSR is formed.

March 30. M. I. Kalinin is elected chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

April 6. Odessa is liberated from French interventionists.

April 12. First Communist subbotnik (day on which persons voluntarily contribute unpaid labor) is held, at the Moskva-Sortirovochnaia depot.

May 10. First mass Communist subbotnik is held, on the Moscow-Kazan Railroad.

May 22. The appeal “To the Defense of Petrograd!” is published by the Central Committee of the RCP(B).

June 1. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee issues a decree on uniting the military and economic efforts of the RSFSR, the Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, and Byelorussia, thereby establishing a military-political union of the Soviet republics.

June 13–16. White Guards stage an unsuccessful mutiny at the forts of Krasnaia Gorka and Seraia Loshad’.

June and July. Ukrainian Komsomol members fight anti-Soviet forces in Tripol’e and suffer brutal reprisals in an operation known as the Tripol’e Campaign.

July 9. The appeal “All Out for the Fight Against Denikin!” is addressed to the party organization by the Central Committee of the RCP(B).

October 5–8. The Second Congress of the Russian Communist League of Youth is held.

October 11. The Red Army launches a counteroffensive against the White Guard army of General A. I. Denikin.

October and November. The White Guard Northwestern Army, under General N. N. Iudenich, is routed near Petrograd.

October to December. Soviet forces liberate Voronezh on October 24, Kursk on November 17, Kharkov on December 12, and Kiev on December 16.

November 14. Omsk is liberated from Kolchak’s supporters.

November. The First Horse Cavalry Army is formed.

December 3–10. The First All-Russian Congress of Land Communes and Agricultural Artels is held. Lenin delivers a speech.

December 5–9. The Seventh All-Russian Congress of Soviets is held.

December 26. Decree on eliminating illiteracy is issued by the Council of People’s Commissars.

January 29. Decree on universal labor conscription is issued by the Council of People’s Commissars.

February 2. Peace Treaty between the RSFSR and Estonia is signed in Tartu.

February 21. Establishment of the State Commission for the Electrification of Russia (GOELRO) is approved by the Presidium of the Supreme Council on the National Economy.

February 21. Arkhangel’sk is liberated from-interventionists and White Guards.

February. The Ukraine is liberated from Denikin’s forces.

March 7. Murmansk is liberated from White Guards and interventionists.

March 27. Novorossiisk is liberated from White Guards.

March 29 to April 5. The Ninth Congress of the RCP(B) is held.

April 6. The Far East Republic is proclaimed.

April 6–13. The Third All-Russian Congress of Trade Unions is held in Moscow.

April 25 to October 12. Polish-Soviet War.

April 26. The Khorezm Soviet People’s Republic is proclaimed.

April 28. The Azerbaijan SSR is formed.

April. Japan occupies northern Sakhalin.

April. The Council of Workers’ and Peasants’ Defense becomes the Council of Labor and Defense of the RSFSR.

May 1. All-Russian May Day celebration and subbotnik (unpaid mass workday) is held.

May 27. The Tatar ASSR is formed.

June 8. The Karelian Labor Commune, an autonomous oblast comprising parts of former provinces, is formed.

July 19. The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for the Liquidation of Illiteracy is established.

July 19 to August 17. The Second Congress of the Comintern is held. Lenin delivers a speech.

August 11. The RSFSR and Latvia sign a peace treaty.

August 26. The Kirghiz ASSR is formed.

September 30. The RSFSR and the Azerbaijan SSR sign a treaty of union.

October 2–10. The Third Congress of the Russian Communist League of Youth is held. Lenin delivers the speech “The Tasks of the Youth Leagues.”

October 8. The Bukhara People’s Soviet Republic is proclaimed.

October 14. The RSFSR and Finland sign a peace treaty.

November 4. The Votsk (Udmurt), Mari, and Kalmyk autonomous oblasts are formed.

November 17. The Crimea is liberated from the White Guard forces of General P. N. Wrangel.

November 29. The Armenian SSR is formed.

December 1. The Central Committee of the RCP(B) publishes a letter on Proletkul’ty (Proletarian Cultural and Educational Organizations).

December 22–29. The Eighth All-Russian Congress of Soviets is held in Moscow. Plan worked out by the State Commission for the Electrification of Russia (GOELRO) is adopted. The Order of the Red Banner of Labor of the RSFSR is instituted.

January 16. The RSFSR and the Byelorussian SSR sign a treaty of union.

January 20. The Dagestan ASSR and the Gortsy ASSR are established.

February 22. The State Planning Commission (Gosplan) is formed.

February 25. The Georgian SSR is formed.

February 26. The RSFSR and Iran establish diplomatic relations.

February 28. The RSFSR and Afghanistan establish diplomatic relations.

February 28 to March 18. Unsuccessful anti-Soviet mutiny takes place at Kronstadt.

March 4. The Abkhazian ASSR is formed.

March 8–16. The Tenth Congress of the RCP(B) is held. Resolution calling for the introduction of the New Economic Policy (NEP) is adopted. Lenin addresses the congress.

March 16. The RSFSR signs a treaty of friendship and fraternity with Turkey and a trade agreement with Great Britain.

March 18. The RSFSR and Poland sign a peace treaty in Riga.

March 21. The decree On the Substitution of a Tax in Kind for the Surplus Appropriation System is issued by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

March 28. The decree On the Free Trade, Purchase, and Sale of Agricultural Products in the Provinces That Have Met Their Grain Requisitions is issued by the Council of People’s Commissars.

April 7. The decree On the Consumers’ Cooperative System is issued by the Council of People’s Commissars.

May 6. The RSFSR and Germany conclude a trade agreement.

May 17–25. The Fourth All-Russian Congress of Trade Unions is held in Moscow.

May 21. The RSFSR and the Georgian SSR sign a treaty of union.

June 22 to July 12. The Third Congress of the Comintern is held.

July 7. The decree On the Producers’ Cooperative System is issued by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars.

July 16. The Adzhar ASSR is formed.

August 12. The decree Basic Principles for Measures to Rebuild Large-scale Industry and Expand and Develop Production is issued by the Council of Labor and Defense.

August 22. The Komi (Zyrian) Autonomous Oblast is formed.

September 1. The Kabarda Autonomous Oblast is formed.

September 2. The RSFSR and Norway conclude a trade agreement.

September 21–28. The Fourth Congress of the Russian Communist League of Youth is held.

September 30. The RSFSR and the Armenian SSR sign a treaty of union.

October 4. The State Bank of the RSFSR (Gosbank) is established.

October 18. The Crimean ASSR is formed.

October 1921 to February 1922. White Finns intervene in Karelia.

December 7. The RSFSR and Austria conclude a trade agreement.

December 23–28. The Ninth All-Russian Congress of Soviets is held.

December 26. The RSFSR and Italy conclude a trade agreement.

January 9. The Buriat-Mongolian Autonomous Oblast is formed.

January 12. The Karachai-Cherkess Autonomous Oblast is formed.

January 16. The Kabarda Autonomous Oblast is renamed the Kabarda-Balkar Autonomous Oblast.

February 12. The Red Army and the People’s Revolutionary Army of the Far East Republic rout the White Guard forces of General V. M. Molchanov at Volochaevka.

March 12. The Federated Union of Socialist Soviet Republics of Transcaucasia is formed.

March 17. The decree On a Single Tax in Kind on Agricultural Products is issued by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars.

March 27 to April 2. The Eleventh Congress of the RCP(B) is held.

April 3. J. V. Stalin is elected general secretary of the RCP(B).

April 10 to May 19. The Genoa Conference is held, attended by Belgium, Great Britain, Italy, the RSFSR, France, and other countries.

April 16. The RSFSR and Germany sign the Treaty of Rapallo on the restoration of diplomatic relations.

April 27. The Yakut ASSR is formed.

May 1. The Kashira Electric Power Plant is put into operation.

May 19. The Pioneer Organization is created (now the V. I. Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization).

June 1. The Oirot Autonomous Oblast is formed.

June 5. The RSFSR and Czechoslovakia establish trade and economic relations.

June 15 to July 19. The Hague Conference is held, attended by Belgium, Great Britain, Italy, the RSFSR, France, Japan, and other countries.

July 27. The Cherkess (Adygei) Autonomous Oblast is formed.

September 17–22. The Fifth All-Russian Congress of Trade Unions is held in Moscow.

October 11–19. The Fifth Congress of the Russian Communist League of Youth is held.

October 25. Vladivostok is liberated from the White Guards and the Japanese interventionists.

October 30. The fourth session of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopts the first Soviet Land Code of the RSFSR.

October 31. The fourth session of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopts the first Soviet Civil Code of the RSFSR.

November 5 to December 5. The Fourth Congress of the Comintern is held. Lenin addresses the Congress.

November 15. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee issues a decree on the unification of the Far East Republic and the RSFSR.

November 20. The plenum of the Moscow Soviet is held, at which Lenin gives an address reviewing the first five years of Soviet power.

November 30. The Chechen Autonomous Qblast is formed.

December 13. The Transcaucasian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic is formed.

December 23–27. The Tenth All-Russian Congress of Soviets is held.

December 30. The First Congress of Soviets of the USSR is held; the Union of the SSR is formed.

Late December 1922 to early 1923. Lenin writes a number of works on intraparty, state, and economic matters, including “Letters to the Congress,” “On Cooperation,” “How We Should Reorganize the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection,” and “Better Fewer, But Better.”

April 17–25. The Twelfth Congress of the RCP(B) is held.

May 30. The Buriat-Mongolian and Buriat autonomous oblasts are merged into the Buriat-Mongolian ASSR.

July 6. The first Constitution of the USSR is adopted by the Central Executive Committee.

July 6. The Council of Labor and Defense of the USSR is established.

July 7. The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast is formed within the Azerbaijan SSR.

July 25. The Karelian Workers’ Commune is reorganized into the Karelian ASSR.

January 21. V. I. Lenin dies. January 26 to February 2. The Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR is held.

January 26. The city of Petrograd is renamed Leningrad.

January 31. The first Constitution of the USSR is ratified by the Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR.

February 2–8. The USSR and Great Britain establish diplomatic relations.

February 7–11. The USSR and Italy establish diplomatic relations.

February 9. The Nakhichevan Autonomous Oblast is reorganized into the Nakhichevan ASSR.

February 15 to March 10. The USSR and Norway establish diplomatic relations.

February 25–29. The USSR and Austria establish diplomatic relations.

March 7. The Central Committee of the RCP(B) presents an address about instituting currency reform in the USSR (changing over to hard currency).

March 8. The USSR and Greece establish diplomatic relations.

March 15–18. The USSR and Sweden establish diplomatic relations.

May 23–31. The Thirteenth Congress of the RCP(B) is held.

May 31. The USSR and China establish diplomatic relations.

May. The joint-stock company Amtorg is formed to facilitate trade between the USA and the USSR.

June 17 to July 8. The Fifth Congress of the Comintern is held.

June 18. The USSR and Denmark establish diplomatic relations.

July 4 to September 4. The USSR and Albania establish diplomatic relations.

July 7. The Severnaia Osetiia and Ingush autonomous oblasts are formed.

July 12–18. The Sixth Congress of the Komsomol is held; the Russian Communist League of Youth is renamed the Russian Lenin Communist League of Youth (RLKSM).

August 1. A decree establishing a Union-wide military Order of the Red Banner is issued by the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR.

August 4. The USSR and Mexico establish diplomatic relations.

October 12. The Moldavian ASSR is formed within the Ukrainian SSR.

October 27. The Turkmen and Uzbek SSR’s are formed. The Kara-Kirghiz Autonomous Oblast is formed within the RSFSR. The Tadzhik ASSR is formed within the Uzbek SSR.

October 28. The USSR and France establish diplomatic relations.

November 11–18. The Sixth All-Union Congress of Trade Unions is held in Moscow.

December 19. A decree on reorganizing the Labor Commune (Autonomous Oblast) of the Volga Germans into an ASSR is issued by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

1924–25. The national-territorial demarcation of the republics in Middle Asia is carried out.

1924–25. A military reform is instituted in the USSR.

January 2. The Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast is formed.

January 20. The USSR and Japan sign a convention on the basic principles governing mutual relations and the return of the northern part of the island of Sakhalin to the USSR.

February 25. The USSR and Japan establish diplomatic relations.

February. The Kara-Kalpak Autonomous Oblast is formed.

April 19. The Kirghiz ASSR is renamed the Kazakh ASSR.

April 21. The Chuvash Autonomous Oblast is reorganized into the Chuvash ASSR.

May 13–20. The Third Congress of Soviets of the USSR is held.

May 24. The first issue of the newspaper Komsomol’skaia pravda is published.

June 18. The resolution On the Party’s Policy on Literature is issued by the Central Committee of the RCP(B).

June 23. The decree On the Establishment of the V. I. Lenin Prizes for Scientific Work is issued by the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR.

September 18. The law on compulsory military service is promulgated.

October 12. The USSR and Germany sign a treaty dealing with economic, transportation, and consular matters.

December 6. The V. I. Lenin Shatura Electric Power Plant is put into operation.

December 17. The USSR and Turkey sign a treaty on friendship and neutrality.

December 18–31. The Fourteenth Congress of the ACP(B) is held; the country is set on a course of industrialization; the RCP(B) is renamed the ACP(B).

March 11–22. The Seventh Congress of the Russian Lenin Communist Youth League is held; the league is renamed the All-Union Lenin Communist Youth League (VLKSM).

April 24. The USSR and Germany sign a treaty on nonaggression and neutrality.

August 31. The USSR and Afghanistan sign a treaty on neutrality and mutual nonaggression.

September 28. The USSR and Lithuania sign a treaty on friendship and neutrality.

December 6–18. The Seventh All-Union Congress of Trade Unions is held in Moscow.

December 17. The results of the all-Union population census are made public.

December 19. The V. I. Lenin Volkhov Hydroelectric Power Plant is put into operation.

January 23. The Society for Assistance to Defense, Aviation, and Chemical Construction (Osoaviakhim) of the USSR is established (now the All-Union Volunteer Society for Cooperation With the Army, Air Force, and Navy [DOSAAF] of the USSR).

April 18–26. The Fourth Congress of Soviets of the USSR is held.

May. Great Britain breaks trade and diplomatic relations with the USSR.

October 1. The USSR and Iran sign a treaty on guarantees and neutrality.

October 15–20. An anniversary session of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR is held to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Soviet power.

November 10. The World Congress of Friends of the USSR is held in Moscow.

December 2–19. The Fifteenth Congress of the ACP(B) is held; the country is set on a course toward the collectivization of agriculture.

1927–32. The V. I. Lenin Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Plant is built.

April 30. The Cherkess Autonomous Oblast is formed.

May 5–16. The Eighth Congress of the All-Union Lenin Communist Youth League is held.

June 1–5. The All-Union Congress of Kolkhoz Workers is held.

July 17 to September 1. The Sixth Congress of the Comintern is held.

September 7. A decree on establishing the Union-wide Order of the Red Banner of Labor is issued by the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars.

October 1. The construction of the 618-km Groznyi-Tuapse petroleum pipeline is completed.

December 10–24. The Eighth All-Union Congress of Trade Unions is held in Moscow.

February 9. The USSR, Poland, Rumania, Latvia, and Estonia sign the Moscow Protocol, which put the Kellogg-Briand Pact into effect ahead of schedule.

March 5. Pravda publishes the appeal made by the work force of the Krasnyi Vyborzhets Plant in Leningrad asking all enterprises in the USSR to join in socialist competition.

April 23–29. The Sixteenth Conference of the ACP(B) is held, at which the first five-year plan for the development of the national economy of the USSR (1929–32) is adopted.

May 20–28. The Fifth Congress of Soviets of the USSR is held, at which the first five-year plan is approved.

June 5. The decree On the Organization of Machine-Tractor Stations is issued by the Council of Labor and Defense.

October-November. A battle takes place in the course of which the Special Red Army of the Far East routs the Chinese militarists on the Chinese Eastern Railway (Chinese Ch’angch’un Railway).

December 5. The Tadzhik SSR is formed.

December 5–10. The First All-Union Congress of Shock Brigades is held.

December 20–26. The First All-Union Congress of Women Kolkhoz Workers is held.

December 20–27. The All-Union Conference of Marxist Agrarians is held in Moscow.

January 5. The decree On the Pace of Collectivization and State Measures to Assist the Development of Kolkhozes is issued by the Central Committee of the ACP(B).

January 10. The Mordovian Autonomous Okrug is reorganized into the Mordovian Autonomous Oblast.

February 1. The decree On Measures to Strengthen the Socialist Reconstruction of Agriculture in Areas of Complete Collectivization and Measures to Combat the Kulaks is issued by the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR.

March 1. The decree about the Model Regulations for the Agricultural Artel is issued by the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR.

March 14. The decree On the Struggle Against Distortions of the Party Line in the Kolkhoz Movement is issued by the Central Committee of the ACP(B).

April 6. A decree instituting the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Star is issued by the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR.

May 1. The Turkestan-Siberian Railroad (Turksib) is opened.

May 15. The decree On the Creation of a Second Main Coal and Metallurgical Center in the Eastern Part of the USSR is issued by the Central Committee of the ACP(B).

June 15. The construction of the Rostsel’mash Plant is completed.

June 17. The F. E. Dzerzhinskii Stalingrad Tractor Plant is put into operation.

June 26 to July 13. The Sixteenth Congress of the ACP(B) is held.

August 14. The decree On Universal Compulsory Elementary Education is issued by the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR.

October 20. The Khakass Autonomous Oblast is formed.

December 10. The Koriak, Chukchi, Taimyr, Evenki, Ostiak-Vogul, Yamal-Nenets, Vitim-Olekminsk, and Okhotsk national okrugs are established.

January 16–26. The Ninth Congress of the All-Union Lenin Communist Youth League is held.

March 8–17. The Sixth Congress of Soviets of the USSR is held.

August 2. The decree On the Pace of Further Collectivization and the Tasks of Strengthening the Kolkhozes is issued by the Central Committee of the ACP(B).

November 25. The first Soviet rocket with a liquid-propellant engine is launched.

1933–34. The polar expedition on the ship Cheliuskin is carried out.

January 1. A decree establishing the Academy of Architecture of the USSR is issued by the Central Executive Committee of the USSR.

January 15. The Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Oblast is formed.

January 26 to February 10. The Seventeenth Congress of the ACP(B) is held, at which the second five-year plan for the development of the national economy (1933–37) is approved.

February 4. The USSR and Hungary establish diplomatic relations.

April 16. A decree establishing the title Hero of the Soviet Union is issued by the Central Executive Committee of the USSR.

April 25. A decree transferring the Academy of Sciences of the USSR to Moscow is issued by the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR.

May 7. The Jewish Autonomous Oblast is formed.

June 9. The USSR establishes diplomatic relations with Rumania and Czechoslovakia.

July 11–23. The USSR and Bulgaria establish diplomatic relations.

August 17 to September 1. The First All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers is held.

September 18. The USSR joins the League of Nations.

September 28. The first phase of the Novokramatorskii Machine-building Plant is put into operation.

December 20. The Mordovian ASSR is formed.

December 28. The Udmurt Autonomous Oblast is reorganized into the Udmurt ASSR.

January 28 to February 6. The Seventh Congress of Soviets of the USSR is held. February 11–17. The Second All-Union Congress of Kolkhoz Shock Workers is held; the Model Regulations for the Agricultural Artel are adopted.

March 23. The USSR and Manchukuo conclude an agreement on the sale of the Chinese Eastern Railway.

May 2. The Soviet-French treaty of mutual assistance is signed.

May 15. The first line of the Moscow subway is opened.

May 16. The Soviet-Czechoslovak treaty of mutual assistance is signed.

July 7. The decree On Issuing to Agricultural Artels State Certificates of Land Use in Perpetuity is issued by the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR.

July 10. The decree On the General Plan for the Reconstruction of Moscow is issued by the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the ACP(B).

July 13. The USSR and the USA conclude a trade agreement.

July 25 to August 20. The Seventh Congress of the Comintern is held.

August 30–31. The Stakhanovite movement begins.

October 20. The Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast is reorganized into the Kalmyk ASSR.

November 14–17. The First All-Union Meeting of Stakhanovites is held.

November 25. A decree instituting the Order of the Badge of Honor is issued by the Central Executive Committee of the USSR.

November. The weavers Evdokiia Vinogradova and Mariia Vinogradova operate 216 machines at one time (beginning of multimachine operation).

April 11–21. The Tenth Congress of the All-Union Lenin Communist Youth League is held.

May 15. The V. I. Lenin Central Museum is opened in Moscow.

November 25 to December 5. The Extraordinary Eighth All-Union Congress of Soviets of the USSR is held.

December 5. The new Constitution of the USSR is adopted.

December 5. The Komi, Mari, Severnaia Osetiia, Kabarda-Balkar, and Chechen-Ingush ASSR’s are established.

1936. The Kazakh ASSR is reorganized into the Kazakh SSR; the Kara-Kalpak ASSR is made part of the Uzbek SSR.

April 28. The decree On the Third Five-year Plan for the Development of the National Economy of the USSR (1938–42) is issued by the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR.

June 18–20. The world’s first nonstop flight over the north pole, from Moscow to Portland (USA), is completed by V. P. Chkalov, G. F. Baidukov, and A. V. Beliakov.

July 12–14. The first nonstop flight from Moscow to San Jacinto (USA) is completed by M. M. Gromov, A. B. Iumashev, and S. A. Danilin.

July 15. The Moscow-Volga Canal is opened (from 1947 known as the Moscow Canal).

August 21. The USSR and China sign a nonaggression pact.

December 12. The first elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR are held in accordance with the new Constitution.

December. The Murmansk Fish Combine is put into operation.

1937–38. Research is carried out by the first Soviet drifting research station (I. D. Papanin, P. P. Shirshov, E. K. Fedorov, and E. T. Krenkel’) on Arctic Ocean ice near the north pole.

January 12. The first session of the first convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR is opened.

July 29 to August 11. A battle takes place at Lake Khasan, in the course of which the Red Army routs Japanese forces.

October 17. An edict instituting the medals For Courage and For Combat Service is issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

October. The Moscow Television Center begins operating.

December 27. An edict establishing the title Hero of Socialist Labor and instituting the medals For Valor in Labor and For Distinguished Service in Labor is issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

January 17. The results of the all-Union population census are made public.

March 10–21. The Eighteenth Congress of the ACP(B) is held.

April 29. V. K. Kokkinaki and M. Kh. Gorienko complete a nonstop flight within 24 hours to the USA in the airplane Moskva.

May 11 to August 31. A battle takes place on the Khalkhin-Gol River, in the course of which the Red Army and the forces of the Mongolian People’s Republic rout Japanese forces.

August 1. The All-Union Agricultural Exhibition is opened in Moscow.

August 1. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issues an edict instituting the Gold Star Medal—the distinguished service badge of a Hero of the Soviet Union.

August 23. The Soviet-German nonaggression pact is signed.

September 1. The new Law on Universal Military Obligation is adopted.

September 28. The USSR and Estonia sign a pact on mutual assistance.

October 5. The USSR and Latvia sign a pact on mutual assistance.

October 10. The USSR and Lithuania sign a pact on mutual assistance.

November 1. Western Ukraine becomes part of the USSR.

November 2. Western Byelorussia becomes part of the USSR.

November 12. Western Byelorussia is reunited with the Byelorussian SSR.

November 14. Western Ukraine is reunited with the Ukrainian SSR.

1939. The Organizational Committee of the Soviet Composers’ Union (from 1957 the Composers’ Union of the USSR) is established.

Nov. 30, 1939, to Mar. 12, 1940. Period of the Soviet-Finnish War.

March 12. The Soviet-Finnish peace treaty is signed.

May 7. An edict establishing higher military ranks is issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

May 22. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issues an edict instituting The Hammer and Sickle gold medal—the distinguished service badge of a Hero of Socialist Labor.

June 15–17. The fascist dictatorship in Lithuania is overthrown and Soviet power is restored.

June 20. The fascist dictatorship in Latvia is overthrown and Soviet power is restored.

June 21. The fascist dictatorship in Estonia is overthrown and Soviet power is restored.

June 28. Rumania returns Bessarabia and Northern Bucovina to the Soviet Union.

July 21. The Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian SSR’s are formed.

August 2. The Moldavian SSR is formed.

August 3. The Lithuanian SSR becomes part of the USSR.

August 5. The Latvian SSR becomes part of the USSR.

August 6. The Estonian SSR becomes part of the USSR.

October 2. An edict creating state labor reserves is issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

February 15–20. The Eighteenth Conference of the ACP(B) is held.

February 24. The Kramatorsk Plant for Heavy Machine-tool Building is put into operation.

April 5. The Soviet-Yugoslav treaty of friendship and nonaggression is concluded.

April 13. The Soviet-Japanese neutrality pact is concluded.

June 22. Germany treacherously attacks the USSR, marking the beginning of the Great Patriotic War.

June 22 to July 20. The Brest Fortress is heroically defended.

June 23. The Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the ACP(B) issue a decree creating the General Headquarters of the High Command (from Aug. 8, 1941, the General Headquarters of the Supreme Command) of the Armed Forces of the USSR.

June 29. The Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the ACP(B) issue a directive to party and Soviet organizations in front-line areas on the mobilization of all the forces and means for crushing the fascist invaders.

June 30. The State Defense Committee is formed.

July 10 to September 10. The battle of Smolensk is fought.

July 10, 1941, to Aug. 10, 1944. The battle of Leningrad takes place.

July 11 to September 26. Kiev is heroically defended.

July 12. The USSR and Great Britain sign an agreement on joint actions in the war against Germany.

July 18. The decree On the Organization of the Struggle in the Rear of the German Forces is issued by the Central Committee of the ACP(B).

August 3. The railroad workers throughout the USSR volunteer to work without pay for the country’s defense fund.

August 5 to October 16. Odessa is heroically defended.

August 25. The People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs of the USSR delivers a note to the Iranian government concerning the sending of Soviet forces to Iran (based on art. 6 of the Soviet-Iranian agreement of 1921).

September 17. The State Defense Committee issues a decree on universal compulsory military training for all citizens of the USSR.

September 18. In accordance with a decision of the General Headquarters of the Supreme Command, the People’s Commissariat of Defense issues an order regarding the renaming of the 100th, 127th, 153rd, and 161st infantry divisions into the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Guards divisions.

September 29 to October 1. Representatives of the USSR, Great Britain, and the USA meet at a conference in Moscow.

Sept. 30, 1941, to Apr. 20, 1942. The battle of Moscow is fought.

October 24 to December 5. Tula is heroically defended.

Oct. 30, 1941, to July 4, 1942. Sevastopol’ is heroically defended.

December 5–6. A counteroffensive is launched by Soviet forces, marking the beginning of the decisive defeat of fascist German forces near Moscow.

January 1. A declaration is signed by 26 nations in Washington, D.C., on the joint struggle against the signatories of the Tripartite Pact—Germany, Italy, and Japan.

January 6. The Soviet government sends a note to the ambassadors and envoys of the countries with which the USSR has diplomatic relations concerning the general plunder, the ruin of the population, and the monstrous atrocities perpetrated by the German authorities in captured Soviet areas.

February 13. The edict On the Wartime Mobilization of the Able-bodied City Population for Work in Production and Construction is issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

April 13. The Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the ACP(B) issue the decrees On Increasing Minimum Obligatory Workdays for Kolkhoz Workers and On the Order of Mobilization of the Able-bodied Urban and Rural Population for Agricultural Work at Kolkhozes, Sovkhozes, and Machine-Tractor Stations.

May 20. An edict instituting the Order of the Patriotic War First and Second Class is issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

May 26. The USSR and Great Britain sign an agreement in London on their alliance in the war against fascist Germany and its allies in Europe and on postwar cooperation and mutual assistance.

May 30. The Central Staff of the Partisan Movement is created under the General Headquarters of the Supreme Command.

May. The All-Union Socialist Competition for Maximum Assistance to the Front is initiated.

June 11. The USSR and the USA sign an agreement in Washington, D.C., on principles governing mutual assistance in the conduct of the war against aggression.

July 17, 1942, to Feb. 2, 1943. The battle of Stalingrad is fought.

July 25, 1942, to Oct. 9, 1943. The battle of the Caucasus is fought.

July 29. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issues an edict establishing the Order of Suvorov First, Second, and Third Class, the Order of Kutuzov First and Second Class, and the Order of Alexander Nevsky.

August 19 to September 26. Novorossiisk is heroically defended.

October 2. The underground Komsomol organization Young Guard is founded in Krasnodon.

November 2. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issues the edict On the Formation of an Extraordinary State Commission to Determine and Investigate the Atrocities of the Fascist German Invaders and Their Collaborators and the Damage Inflicted By Them on Citizens, Kolkhozes, Public Organizations, State Enterprises, and Institutions of the USSR.

November 19–20. Soviet troops launch a counteroffensive near Stalingrad.

December 22. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issues an edict establishing the medals For the Defense of Leningrad, For the Defense of Odessa, For the Defense of Sevastopol’, and For the Defense of Stalingrad.

1942–43. A raid is carried out from the Briansk forests to the right bank of the Dnieper River by the partisan unit commanded by S. A. Kovpak.

January 12–18. The Leningrad blockade is broken through.

February 2. An edict instituting the medal To a Partisan of the Patriotic War First and Second Class is issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

February 6. The construction of the first phase of the Cheliabinsk Metallurgical Combine is completed.

February 8. An edict instituting the Order of Kutuzov Third Class is issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

July 5 to August 23. The battle of Kursk is fought.

August 5. Orel and Belgorod are liberated; the first artillery salute is given in Moscow.

August 13 to September 22. The liberation of the Donbas is completed.

August 21. The decree On Immediate Measures for Economic Recovery in Areas Liberated From German Occupation is issued by the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the ACP(B).

September 10 to October 9. The Novorossiisk-Taman’ operation is carried out.

September 29. Fascist Italy signs the act of unconditional surrender.

October 10. An edict establishing the Order of Bogdan Khmel’-nitskii First, Second, and Third Class is issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

October 19–30. A conference of the ministers of foreign affairs of the USSR, Great Britain, and the USA is held in Moscow.

October 31 to December 11. The Kerch’-El’tigen landing operation is carried out.

November 6. Kiev is liberated.

November 8. An edict instituting the Order of Victory and the Order of Glory First, Second, and Third Class is issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

November 28 to December 1. The Tehran Conference is held, attended by the heads of state of the Allied countries—the USSR, the USA, and Great Britain.

December 12. The USSR and Czechoslovakia sign a treaty of friendship, mutual assistance, and postwar cooperation.

January 6. The open-hearth furnace section of the Cheliabinsk Tube-rolling Plant is put into operation. January 14 to March 1. The fascist German forces are routed at Leningrad and Novgorod.

January 24 to February 17. The Korsun’-Shevchenko grouping of the fascist German troops is destroyed.

March 3. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issues an edict establishing the Order of Ushakov First and Second Class, the Order of Nakhimov First and Second Class, and the Ushakov and Nakhimov medals.

April 8 to May 12. The Crimea is liberated.

April 10. Odessa is liberated.

May 1. An edict establishing the medals For the Defense of Moscow and For the Defense of the Caucasus is issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

May 9. Sevastopol’ is liberated.

June 6. Anglo-American troops land in France, leading to the opening of the second front in Western Europe.

June 10 to August 9. Fighting takes place in the course of which the fascist Finnish forces are routed on the Karelian Isthmus.

June 23 to August 29. The Byelorussian Operation is carried out, in the course of which the Byelorussian SSR is liberated.

July 3. Minsk is liberated.

July 8. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issues an edict establishing the honorary title Mother Heroine, the Order of Mother Heroine, the Order of Glory of Motherhood First, Second, and Third Class, and the Medal of Motherhood First and Second Class.

July 8. The Urals Automotive Plant is put into operation,.

July 13. Vilnius is liberated.

July 13 to August 29. The L’vov-Sandomierz Operation is carried out.

July 21–29. The USSR and Syria establish diplomatic relations.

July 31 to August 3. The USSR and Lebanon establish diplomatic relations.

August 20–29. The Iasi-Kishinev Operation is carried out, in the course of which a large grouping of fascist German forces is surrounded and destroyed.

August 23–24. Rumania leaves the war against the USSR and declares war on fascist Germany.

August 24. Kishinev is liberated.

August 31. The Soviet Army enters Bucharest.

September 4. Finland leaves the war against the USSR.

September 9–10. Bulgaria leaves the war against the USSR and declares war on fascist Germany.

September 14 to October 31. The Baltic Operation is carried out, leading to the liberation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

September 16. The Soviet Army enters Sofia.

September 22. Tallinn is liberated.

September 22 to October 20. The Belgrade Operation is carried out, in the course of which the Soviet Army and the National Liberation Army of Yugoslavia liberate southwestern Yugoslavia and Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia (October 20).

October 11–13. The Tuvinian People’s Republic becomes part of the USSR; the Tuva Autonomous Oblast is formed within the RSFSR.

October 13. Riga is liberated.

October 25. The USSR and Italy renew diplomatic relations.

October. The Soviet Army liberates the Pechenga (Petsamo) area and northern Norway from the fascist German invaders.

November 19. A decree on the rebuilding of the city of Sevastopol’ is issued by the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR.

December 5. An edict instituting the medal For the Defense of the Soviet Arctic Region is issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

December 10. The Soviet-French treaty of alliance and mutual assistance is signed in Moscow.

December 31. The first metallurgical plant in Kazakhstan is put into operation in the city of Temirtau.

1944. The Il’ich Metallurgical Plant in Mariupol’ is rebuilt; the Novomakeevskii Coke By-products Plant and the M. V. Frunze Metallurgical Plant in the Donbas are rebuilt.

January 12 to February 3. The Vistula-Oder Operation is carried out.

January 13 to April 25. The East Prussian Operation is carried out.

January 17. The Soviet and Polish armies liberate Warsaw.

February 4–11. The Yalta Conference of the heads of government of the Allied countries—the USSR, the USA, and Great Britain—is held.

February 13. The Soviet Army routs the Budapest grouping of fascist German forces; Budapest is liberated.

April 4. Soviet forces liberate Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia.

April 6–10. The Soviet Army captures Kônigsberg (now Kaliningrad).

April 11. The Soviet-Yugoslav treaty of friendship, mutual assistance, and postwar cooperation is signed in Moscow.

April 13. The Soviet Army liberates Vienna.

April 16 to May 8. The Berlin Operation is carried out.

April 21. The USSR and Poland sign a treaty in Moscow on friendship, mutual assistance, and postwar cooperation.

April 30. The Banner of Victory is raised over the Reichstag.

May 2. The fascist German troops surrender in Berlin.

May 8. Representatives of the fascist German command sign a statement on the unconditional surrender of the German armed forces in Karlshorst, a suburb of Berlin.

May 9. Victory Day is proclaimed, commemorating the defeat of fascist Germany.

May 9. The Soviet Army liberates Prague.

May 9. An edict establishing the medal For Victory Over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45 is issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

June 5. A declaration is issued stating that Germany was defeated and that the governments of the four Allied countries—the USSR, the USA, Great Britain, and France—were assuming supreme power.

June 6. An edict instituting the medal For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45 is issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

June 24. The Victory Parade is held on Red Square in Moscow.

June 26. Representatives of 50 countries approve the United Nations Charter in San Francisco.

June 29. The USSR and Czechoslovakia sign an agreement reuniting the Transcarpathian Ukraine with the Ukrainian SSR.

July 8. The Central Committee of the ACP(B) issues the decree On the Construction of Houses for Kolkhoz Workers, Outbuildings for Kolkhozes, and Amenities Buildings in Formerly Occupied Areas of the RSFSR.

July 17 to August 2. The Potsdam Conference of the heads of government of the Allied countries—the USSR, the USA, and Great Britain—is held.

August 6. The USSR renews diplomatic relations with Rumania and Finland.

August 9 to September 2. The war between the USSR and imperialist Japan is fought.

August 14. The USSR and China sign a treaty on friendship and alliance in Moscow.

August 14–16. The USSR and Bulgaria renew diplomatic relations.

August 16. The USSR and Poland sign a treaty in Moscow concerning the Soviet-Polish state boundary.

September 2. Representatives of Japan sign the act of unconditional surrender of the Japanese armed forces in Tokyo.

September 4. The State Defense Committee is abolished.

September 25. The USSR and Hungary renew diplomatic relations.

September 30. An edict establishing the medal For Victory Over Japan is issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

October 24. The United Nations Organization is founded (the USSR, the Ukrainian SSR, and the Byelorussian SSR are among the founding members).

November 10. The USSR and Albania renew diplomatic relations.

Nov. 20, 1945, to Oct. 1, 1946. The trials of the principal fascist German war criminals are held in Nuremberg.

January 18. First session of the United Nations General Assembly opens in London.

February 27. The USSR and the Mongolian People’s Republic sign in Moscow a treaty on friendship and mutual assistance and an agreement on economic and cultural cooperation.

March 15. The Supreme Soviet of the USSR enacts a statute reorganizing the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR as the Council of Ministers of the USSR and reorganizing the councils of people’s commissars in the Union republics and autonomous republics as the councils of ministers in those republics.

March 18. The statute On the Five-year Plan for Rebuilding and Developing the National Economy of the USSR in the Years 1946–50 is passed by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

July 29 to October 15. The Paris Peace Conference is held.

September 19. The decree On Measures to Eliminate Violations of the Regulations for Agricultural Artels in Kolkhozes is issued by the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Central Committee of the ACP(B).

February 28. The decree On Measures for Advancing Agriculture in the Postwar Period is issued by the plenum of the Central Committee of the ACP(B).

March 3. First unit of the rebuilt V. I. Lenin Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Plant is put into operation.

August 29. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR ratifies the peace treaties concluded February 10 in Paris with Italy, Rumania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland.

September 6. The city of Moscow is awarded the Order of Lenin in commemoration of its 800th anniversary by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

September 20. The medal In Memory of the 800th Anniversary of Moscow is issued.

October. The Zaporozhstal’ Plant, which had been demolished by the fascist German occupiers, is restored to operation.

December 14. The decree On Instituting a Currency Reform and Abolishing Ration Cards for Food and Industrial Products is issued by the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Central Committee of the ACP(B).

January 7. The Oirot Autonomous Oblast is renamed the Gorno-Altai Autonomous Oblast.

February 4. The USSR and the Rumanian People’s Republic conclude an agreement on friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance.

February 18. The USSR and the Hungarian People’s Republic conclude an agreement on friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance.

March 18. The USSR and the People’s Republic of Bulgaria conclude an agreement on friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance.

April 6. The USSR and Finland conclude an agreement on friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance.

August 23. The rebuilt Kharkov Tractor Works is put into operation.

October 10. First Soviet guided ballistic missile, the R-l, is launched.

January 5–8. Representatives of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Rumania, the USSR, and Czechoslovakia hold an economic conference; decision is made to found the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON).

March 29 to April 8. The Eleventh Congress of the All-Union Lenin Communist Youth League (Komsomol) is held.

April 19–27. The Tenth Congress of the Trade Unions of the USSR is held.

September 25. TASS reports that the USSR has tested an atomic bomb.

October 2. The Soviet Union is the first country to recognize the People’s Republic of China.

February 14. The USSR and the People’s Republic of China sign an agreement on friendship, alliance, and mutual assistance.

April. The Rustavi Metallurgical Plant is put into operation.

May 30. The decree On the Enlarging of Small Kolkhozes and the Tasks of Party Organizations Associated With This Goal is issued by the Central Committee of the ACP(B).

July. Signatures are collected in the USSR in response to the Stockholm Appeal of the Permanent Committee of the World Congress of Partisans of Peace, which called for a ban on atomic weapons.

1950. The Minsk Tractor Works is put into operation.

March 12. The Supreme Soviet of the USSR enacts a statute on the defense of peace.

1951–55. Period of the fifth five-year plan.

June 6. The Tsimliansk Hydroelectric Power Plant is put into operation.

July 27. The V. I. Lenin Volga-Don Ship Canal is opened.

October 5–14. The Nineteenth Congress of the CPSU is held; the ACP(B) is renamed the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).

1952. The Soviet Union turns the Chinese Ch’angch’un Railway over to China.

March 5. J. V. Stalin dies.

August 20. The USSR announces that it has tested a hydrogen bomb.

September 7. The decree On Measures for the Further Development of Agriculture in the USSR is issued by the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

November 23. First stage of the Mingechaur Hydroelectric Power Plant is put into operation.

January 25 to February 18. The Berlin Conference is held, attended by the ministers of foreign affairs of the USSR, Great Britain, the USA, and France.

March 2. The decree On Further Increasing Grain Production in the Country and Developing the Virgin and Disused Lands is issued by the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

March 19–27. The Twelfth Congress of the All-Union Lenin Communist Youth League (Komsomol) is held.

May. The 300th anniversary of the reunification of the Ukraine with Russia is celebrated.

June 7–15. The Eleventh Congress of the Trade Unions of the USSR is held; new Regulations of the Trade Unions of the USSR are approved.

June 27. World’s first industrial atomic power plant is put into operation in the USSR.

August 1. The All-Union Agricultural Exhibition is reopened in Moscow on a permanent basis.

September 18. The first section of the Kama Hydroelectric Power Plant is put into operation.

May 14. Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Poland, Rumania, and the USSR sign a treaty on friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance in Warsaw (the Warsaw Pact).

August 23. The Cherepovets Metallurgical Plant is put into operation.

September 13–24. The USSR and the Federal Republic of Germany establish diplomatic relations.

September 20. Treaty concerning relations between the USSR and the German Democratic Republic is signed in Moscow.

October 18. First unit of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant is put into operation.

November 4. The decree On Eliminating Excesses in Designing and Construction is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU.

November 15. The Leningrad subway is opened.

December 12. The city of Bratsk is founded.

January 26. Final protocol on the transfer of the Porkkala Peninsula from the USSR to Finland is signed.

February 14–25. The Twentieth Congress of the CPSU is held.

May 25. The edict On Establishing a Six-hour Workday for Youths From 16 to 18 Years of Age is issued by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

June 4. The All-Union Industrial Exhibition is opened in Moscow on the grounds of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition.

June 6. The decree On Abolishing Tuition in the Higher Grades of Secondary Schools and in Specialized Secondary and Higher Educational Institutions of the USSR is issued by the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

June 30. The decree On Overcoming the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU.

July 14. Statute on state pensions is enacted by the fifth session of the fourth convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

July 16. The Karelian-Finnish SSR becomes part of the RSFSR as the Karelian ASSR.

August 6. The decree On Irrigating and Developing the Virgin Lands of the Golodnaia Steppe in the Uzbek SSR and the Kazakh SSR to Increase Cotton Production is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

August 15. The decree On Lenin Prizes for the Most Outstanding Works in Science, Technology, Literature, and Art is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

September 6. The International Lenin Prizes for Strengthening Peace Among Nations are instituted by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

October 19. The Soviet and Japanese governments declare they have reached an agreement ending the state of war between the two countries and reestablishing diplomatic and consular relations.

October 20. The medal For the Development of the Virgin Lands is instituted by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

October 30. The USSR issues a declaration on principles for the development and further strengthening of friendship and cooperation between the Soviet Union and other socialist countries.

December 24. First phase of the Moscow-Stavropol’ gas pipeline (1,300 km) is put into operation.

January 9. The Cherkess Autonomous Oblast is reorganized as the Karachai-Cherkess Autonomous Oblast.

May 16. The medal In Memory of the 250th Anniversary of Leningrad is established.

July 28 to August 11. The Sixth World Festival of Youth and Students is held in Moscow.

July 31. The decree On the Development of Housing Construction in the USSR is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

August 20. The trade unions of the USSR are awarded the Order of Lenin on the 50th anniversary of the organization of the first revolutionary trade unions in Russia, by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

August 21. World’s first intercontinental ballistic missile, the R-7, is launched.

October 4. The USSR launches the world’s first artificial earth satellite (Sputnik).

November 16–19. Conference of representatives from 64 Communist and workers’ parties is held in Moscow.

December 5. First atomic icebreaker, the Lenin, is commissioned.

1957. Organizational committee of the Union of Soviet Cinematographers (since 1965, the Cinematographers’ Union of the USSR) is formed. The Artists’ Union of the USSR is founded.

April 15–18. The Thirteenth Congress of the All-Union Lenin Communist Youth League (Komsomol) is held.

May 28. The Exhibition of the Achievements of the National Economy of the USSR (VDNKh) is established by decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

July 15. The Statute on the Rights of the Factory, Plant, and Local Committees of Trade Unions is enacted by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

July 29. The Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast is reorganized as the Kalmyk ASSR by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

December 24. The edict On Strengthening Ties Between School and Life and on Further Developing the Public Education System in the USSR is issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

January 2. The unmanned space probe Luna 1 is launched, becoming the first vehicle to achieve escape velocity (≈11.2 km/-sec); it subsequently flies past the moon and becomes the first artificial solar satellite.

January 15–22. All-Union population census is taken.

January 27 to February 5. The Twenty-first Congress of the CPSU is held; control figures for the development of the national economy of the USSR in the period 1959–65 are approved.

January 30. First stage of the Karakum Canal (400 km), which had been dug through a desert, is opened.

March 23–27. The Twelfth Congress of the Trade Unions of the USSR is held.

June 16. The permanent Exhibition of the Achievements of the National Economy of the USSR is opened in Moscow.

August 8. The Stavropol’-Leningrad gas pipeline is completed.

September 12. The unmanned probe Luna 2 is launched toward the moon.

September 14. The Luna 2 probe reaches the surface of the moon.

October 7. The unmanned space probe Luna 3 flies around the moon, photographs the far side of the moon, and transmits the image to earth.

October 1. The Patrice Lumumba Peoples’ Friendship University is opened in Moscow.

November 6. The Kiev subway is opened.

November. Conference of representatives of 81 Communist and workers’ parties is held in Moscow.

April 12. Cosmonaut Iu. A. Gagarin in the spacecraft Vostok becomes the first person to orbit the earth.

June 21. The medal For the Defense of Kiev is issued by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

July 6. The USSR and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea sign in Moscow a treaty on friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance.

October 10. The Tuva Autonomous Oblast is reorganized as the Tuva ASSR by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

October 17–31. The Twenty-second Congress of the CPSU is held; the new Program of the CPSU and Rules of the CPSU are adopted.

December 4–15. The Fifth World Congress of Trade Unions is held in Moscow.

April 16–20. The Fourteenth Congress of the All-Union Lenin Communist Youth League (Komsomol) is held. May 4. In commemoration of its 50th anniversary, the newspaper Pravda is awarded the Order of Lenin by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

April 25–27. All-Union conference is held, attended by leaders in the movement for communist labor.

June 16–19. Cosmonaut V. V.. Tereshkova aboard the spacecraft Vostok 6 becomes the first woman to orbit the earth.

June 19. The unmanned probe Mars 1 flies past Mars.

June 24–29. The World Congress of Women is held in Moscow.

August 5. Representatives of the USSR, the USA, and Great Britain sign the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty prohibiting the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, in outer space, and underwater.

October 28 to November 2. The Thirteenth Congress of the Trade Unions of the USSR is held.

November 23. The Siberian Integrated Electric Power Grid is completed.

January 17. Construction of the first stage of the Bukhara-Urals gas pipeline is completed.

February 10–15. The plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU is held; it issues the decree On the Intensification of Agricultural Production Based on the Extensive Use of Fertilizers, the Development of Irrigation and Integrated Mechanization, and the Application of Scientific Achievements and Progressive Methods for a Rapid Increase in Agricultural Production.

May 5. The edict On Approval of the Customs Code of the USSR is issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

July 13–15. Fourth session of the sixth convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR is held. The Supreme Soviet of the USSR enacts the Law on Pensions and Grants to Kolkhoz Members and the statute On Increasing the Wages of Workers in Education, Public Health, Housing and Communal Services, Trade and the Food Service Industry, and Other Branches of the National Economy Directly Serving the People.

September 16–24. The World Youth Forum is held in Moscow.

September 28. Gala meeting celebrating the 100th anniversary of the First International is held in the Bolshoi Theater of the USSR in Moscow.

October 14. The plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU is held; L. I. Brezhnev is elected first secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (he is elected general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU on Apr. 8, 1966).

October 15. World’s largest petroleum pipeline, Druzhba (Friendship), is opened.

October 28. Construction of the Volga-Baltic Waterway is completed.

December 11. The honorific “V. I. Lenin” is conferred on the Volga-Baltic Waterway by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

December 31. The edict On Increasing the Minimum State Pensions for Disabled Persons of the First and Second Groups and for Families Who Have Lost Their Breadwinners is issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

March 18. Cosmonaut A. A. Leonov becomes the first person to walk in space when he leaves the spacecraft Voskhod 2 piloted by P. I. Beliaev.

March 24–26. The plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU is held and issues the decree On Urgent Measures for the Further Development of Agriculture in the USSR.

April 26. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issues an edict declaring May 9, Victory Day, a holiday.

May 7. The jubilee medal Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45 is instituted by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

May 8. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issues edicts ratifying the Statute on the Honorary Title Hero-City, conferring on Moscow the honorary title Hero-City, conferring on Brest Fortress the honorary title Hero-Fortress, and awarding the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal to the Hero-Cities of Volgograd, Sevastopol’, and Odessa and the Gold Star Medal to the Hero-Cities of Leningrad and Kiev.

May 8. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issues an edict declaring International Women’s Day, March 8, a holiday in the USSR.

May 8. The Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the USSR is opened in Moscow.

May 9. Military Parade is held on Red Square in Moscow in commemoration of the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45.

October 4. The Statute on the Socialist State Production Enterprise is enacted by decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

October 4. The decree On Improving Planning and Increasing Economic Incentives in Industrial Production is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

November 19. At the initiative of the USSR, the United Nations General Assembly adopts a resolution on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons.

December 6. The plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU is held; it issues the decree On Reorganizing the Bodies of Party and State Control.

January 15. The USSR and the Mongolian People’s Republic sign a treaty on friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance.

February 3. The unmanned probe Luna 9 makes the first soft landing on the moon and transmits to earth panoramas of the lunar landscape.

March 1. The unmanned probe Venera 3 becomes the first space vehicle to reach the surface of Venus.

March 29 to April 8. The Twenty-third Congress of the CPSU is held. Directives for the eighth five-year plan (1966–70) are adopted.

March 31. The unmanned probe Luna 10, the first artificial lunar satellite, is launched.

May 17–21. The Fifteenth Congress of the All-Union Lenin Communist Youth League (Komsomol) is held.

August 1. The decree On Transforming the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the RSFSR into the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

January 27. The USSR, USA, and Great Britain simultaneously, in Moscow, Washington, and London, sign the Outer Space Treaty, dealing with the principles governing the activities of states in the exploration and use of outer space.

February 17. The Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR issue a decree ratifying the statutes on the Lenin and State Prizes of the USSR and on the committees on the Lenin and State Prizes of the USSR under the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

March 13. The newspaper Izvestiia Sovetov deputatov trudiashchikhsia SSSR (News of the Soviets of Working People’s Deputies of the USSR) is awarded the Order of Lenin in commemoration of its 50th anniversary by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

March 14. The edict On Transferring Industrial and Nonindustrial Workers at Enterprises, Institutions, and Organizations to the Five-day Workweek With Two Days Off is issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

April 21. The decree On Measures for Further Developing the Economy and Culture of Nationalities of the North is issued by the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

May 8. The Grave of the Unknown Soldier Monument at the Kremlin wall in Moscow is dedicated.

May 12. The USSR and the People’s Republic of Bulgaria sign in Sofia an agreement on friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance.

June 25. The theses “50 Years of the Great October Socialist Revolution” are published by the Central Committee of the CPSU.

July 8. The decree On Measures for the Further Development of the Productive Forces of the Far East Economic Region and Chita Oblast is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

August 14. The decree On Measures for the Further Development of the Social Sciences and the Enhancement of Their Role in Communist Construction is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU.

September 7. The USSR and the Hungarian People’s Republic sign in Budapest an agreement on friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance.

October 27. Blast furnace No. 8 at the V. I. Lenin Krivoi Rog Metallurgical Works is put into operation.

October 30. The artificial earth satellites Cosmos 188 and Cosmos 186 perform the first automatic docking and separation of space vehicles.

October 31. The Order of the October Revolution is instituted by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

November 3–4. Joint session of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR is held at the Kremlin Palace of Congresses in Moscow in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution.

November 5. The appeal “To the Soviet People, to All the Working People of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics” is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and the Council of Ministers of the USSR in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution.

December 26. The jubilee medal Fifty Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR is instituted by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

April 9–10. The plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU is held; it issues the decree On the Present-day Problems of the International Situation and the Struggle of the CPSU for the Solidarity of the World Communist Movement.

July 5. The decree On Measures to Improve the Public Health System and Develop Medical Science in the Country is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

August 10. The Central Committee on the CPSU publishes a decree on preparations for the 100th anniversary of Lenin’s birth.

October 6. The Central Committee of the CPSU publishes a decree on the 50th anniversary of the All-Union Lenin Communist Youth League (Komsomol) and the tasks of communist education of youth.

October 25. In commemoration of its 50th anniversary, the All-Union Lenin Communist Youth League (Komsomol) is awarded the Order of the October Revolution by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

December 19. The Statute on Bodies of People’s Control in the USSR is enacted by decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

January 22. The Statute on Higher Educational Institutions in the USSR and the Statute on Specialized Secondary Educational Institutions in the USSR are enacted by decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

June 5–17. The International Conference of the Communist and Workers’ Parties is held in Moscow.

November 5. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Lenin’s birth, the jubilee medals For Valiant Labor and For Military Valor are instituted by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

November 14. The decree On Establishing a Scientific Research Complex for Problems of the Development of Agriculture in Siberia and the Far East is issued by the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

November 24. The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty is ratified by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

November 25–27. The Third All-Union Congress of Kolkhoz Workers is held.

December 23. The theses “On the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of V. I. Lenin” are published by the Central Committee of the CPSU.

January 15–22. All-Union population census is taken.

April 21–22. Joint session of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR is held at the Kremlin Palace of Congresses in Moscow in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Lenin’s birth.

May 6. The USSR and Czechoslovakia sign in Prague a treaty on friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance.

May 26–30. The Sixteenth Congress of the All-Union Lenin Communist Youth League (Komsomol) is held.

July 2–3. The plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU is held; it issues the decree Immediate Tasks of the Party in Agriculture.

July 7. The USSR and Rumania sign in Bucharest a treaty on friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance.

August 12. The USSR and the Federal Republic of Germany sign a treaty in Moscow.

September 20. The unmanned probe Luna 16 makes a soft landing on the moon. It drills into the surface and takes a soil sample, which it subsequently delivers to earth.

November 17. The unmanned probe Luna 17 places on the moon the first lunar roving vehicle—Lunokhod 1, equipped with scientific instrumentation and controlled from earth.

February 11. The Seabed Treaty, prohibiting the placement of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction on the seabed or ocean floor or beneath them, is signed in Moscow, London, and Washington.

March 14. The decree On Measures for Further Improving the Work of Raion and City Soviets of Working People’s Deputies is published by the Central Committee of the CPSU.

March 30 to April 9. The Twenty-fourth Congress of the CPSU is held. Directives for the five-year plan for the development of the national economy of the USSR for 1971–75 are ratified, and a decree on partial changes in the Rules of the CPSU is approved.

April 16. The decree On Measures for Further Developing Land Reclamation and the Agricultural Development of Land in 1971–75 is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

May 27. The USSR and the United Arab Republic (Arab Republic of Egypt) sign in Cairo a treaty on friendship and cooperation.

May 28. The unmanned probe Mars 3 is launched, carrying a capsule that subsequently makes the first soft landing on Mars.

June 2. The decree On the Development of Railroad Transport in the Years 1971–75 is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

June 3. The decree On the General Plan for the Development of Moscow is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

June 3. Edicts on increasing the minimum old-age pensions for industrial and nonindustrial workers and on measures for further improving pensions for kolkhoz workers are issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

June 16. The Statute for the Union Kolkhoz Council and model statutes for the kolkhoz councils of the Union republics, autonomous republics, krais, oblasts, and raions are enacted by decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

July 16. The decree On Raising the Minimum Wage and Raising Wage Rates and Salaries of Middle-income Industrial and Nonindustrial Workers in Railroad Transport and Subway Systems and on Measures for Consolidating Key Personnel in Railroad Transport is published by the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions.

August 9. The USSR and India sign a treaty on peace, friendship, and cooperation.

September 3. The USSR, the USA, Great Britain, and France sign the Quadripartite Agreement on West Berlin.

October 18. The decree On Measures for Further Improving the Material and Living Conditions of Students at Higher and Specialized Secondary Educational Institutions is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

November 15. Agreement establishing Intersputnik, an international system and organization of space communications, is signed by representatives of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, Cuba, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the German Democratic Republic, the Hungarian People’s Republic, the Mongolian People’s Republic, the Polish People’s Republic, the Socialist Republic of Rumania, and the USSR.

November 27. The unmanned probe Mars 2 becomes the first Soviet artificial satellite of Mars. It ejects a capsule that becomes the first vehicle to reach the surface of Mars.

November 30. The Saratov Hydroelectric Power Plant is completed.

December 21. The statute On the Agricultural Tax is amended and supplemented by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, with certain benefits being provided to industrial, nonindustrial, and kolkhoz workers. The decree On Amending and Supplementing Decisions of the Government of the USSR Concerning Taxes Paid by the Population is issued by the Council of Ministers of the USSR, with industrial and nonindustrial workers being exempted from paying agricultural and income taxes for the use of land plots distributed to them for individual gardens by enterprises, institutions, and organizations.

December 21. World’s first industrial pilot plant for the production of electric power with a magnetohydrodynamic generator is put into operation in Moscow.

January 17. New all-Union physical-culture program Ready for Labor and Defense of the USSR (GTO) is introduced by decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

January 25. The decree On Literary and Art Criticism is published by the Central Committee of the CPSU.

February 22. The decree On Preparations for the 50th Anniversary of the Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU.

March 20. The trade unions of the USSR are awarded the Order of Lenin by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

March 20–24. The Fifteenth Congress of the Trade Unions of the USSR is held.

March 26. The decree On the 50th Anniversary of the V. I. Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization is published by the Central Committee of the CPSU.

April 9. The USSR and the Republic of Iraq sign a treaty on friendship and cooperation.

April 10. The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological), and Toxic Weapons and on Their Destruction is signed in Moscow, London, and Washington.

April 17. The USSR and the Turkish Republic sign a declaration on the principles of neighborly relations.

May 4. In commemoration of its 60th anniversary, the newspaper Pravda is awarded the Order of the October Revolution by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

May 18. In commemoration of its 50th anniversary, the Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization is awarded the Order of Lenin by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

May 19. The decree On Exchanging Party Documents is issued by the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

June 20. The decree On Completing the Transition to Universal Secondary Education for Youth and on the Further Development of the General-education School is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

June 23. The decree On Improving the Vocational-Technical Educational System is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

July 18. The decree On Measures for Further Improving Higher Education in the Country is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

July 22. The unmanned probe Venera 8 makes the first soft landing on Venus. Pennants with a bas-relief of Lenin and a representation of the state coat of arms of the USSR are brought to the planet’s surface.

August 14. The decree On Increasing the Role of the Exhibition of the Achievements of the National Economy of the USSR in Popularizing the Achievements of Science and Progressive Experience and in Introducing the Achievements Into Agricultural Production is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions.

August 19. The decree On Raising the Wage Rates and Salaries of Physicians, Teachers, and Educators in Children’s Preschool Institutions as of Sept. 1, 1972, is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions.

September 8. The Saratov Irrigation and Water-supply Canal, one of the most important construction projects of the ninth five-year plan, is put into operation.

September 20. The decree On Measures for the Further Improvement of the Conservation of Nature and the Rational Use of Natural Resources is approved by the fourth session of the eighth convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

September 30. New branch of the Druzhba (Friendship) Pipeline, carrying petroleum from the USSR to the Hungarian People’s Republic, is put into operation.

October 2. The decree On Further Intensifying Land Reclamation Work and Improving the Use of Irrigated and Drained Land is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

December 17. In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the USSR, the Order of Friendship of Peoples is instituted by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

December 30. In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the USSR, the appeal “To the Soviet People, to the Working People of All Nationalities of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics” is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

February 9. In commemoration of its 50th anniversary, Soviet civil aviation (Aeroflot) is awarded the Order of the October Revolution by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

March 1. The Central Committee of the CPSU begins an exchange of party documents. Party card No. 1 of the 1973 series is made out to Lenin.

April 13. The decree On the 70th Anniversary of the Second Congress of the RSDLP is published by the Central Committee of the CPSU.

May 19. The USSR and the Federal Republic of Germany sign in Bonn an agreement on developing economic, industrial, and technical cooperation and an agreement on cultural cooperation.

May 25. First complex of the Nurek Hydroelectric Power Plant, with a capacity of 900,000 kilowatts, is put into operation.

July 30–31. Leaders of the Communist and workers’ parties of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, German Democratic Republic, Hungarian People’s Republic, Mongolian People’s Republic, Polish People’s Republic, Socialist Republic of Rumania, and USSR meet in the Crimea.

September 14. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issues edicts conferring the honorary title of Hero-City on the cities of Novorossiisk and Kerch’.

October 25–31. The World Congress of Peace-loving Forces is held in Moscow.

November 21. The Edict On Further Increasing the Pensions of Disabled Persons and Families Who Have Lost Their Breadwinners is issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

January 5. Construction of the first stage of the Novovoronezhskii Atomic Power Plant is completed.

January 12. First block of the Bilibino Atomic Power plant in Chukchi National Okrug is put into operation.

January 15. The Cherepovets Chemical Plant is put into operation.

January 18. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issues edicts instituting the Order of the Glory of Labor (three classes) and the medal Veteran of Labor.

January 21. Announcement is published about the building of the world’s first continuous microtron at the Obninsk Institute of Physics and Power Engineering.

February 7. In commemoration of its 250th anniversary, the Academy of Sciences of the USSR is awarded the Order of Lenin by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

April 17. Completion of the electrification of the world’s northernmost railroad, the Noril’sk-Dudinka line, is announced.

April 23–27. The Seventeenth Congress of the All-Union Lenin Communist Youth League (Komsomol) is held.

May 15. The decree On Measures for Further Improving the Organization of Recreation for Pioneers and Schoolchildren is published by the Central Committee of the CPSU.

May 20. The decree On Further Improving the Activity of Volunteer Public Order Squads is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR. The edict On the Main Duties and Rights of Volunteer Public Order Squads is issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

June 9. The USSR and Portugal establish diplomatic relations.

June 26. Minsk is awarded the honorary title Hero-City by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

August 13. The USSR’s largest plant for processing fine-fiber cotton is put into operation in Sherabad, Uzbek SSR.

September 12. The decree On Further Increasing Material Aid to Low-income Families With Children is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

October 9–10. The All-Union Congress of the Partisans of Peace is held in Moscow.

October 18. Announcement is made that the first stage of the world’s largest blooming mill, the 1500 at the Nizhnii Tagil Metallurgical Combine, has been put into operation.

October 28. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issues edicts instituting the Order for Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR (three classes) and the medal For Distinguished Military Service (two classes).

November 6. First power block of the V. I. Lenin Leningrad Atomic Power Plant is completed.

December 2. Sea trials of the world’s largest atomic icebreaker, the Arktika, begin.

December 20. World’s largest blast furnace is put into operation at the V. I. Lenin Krivoi Rog Metallurgical Works.

January 9. The decree On the 70th Anniversary of the Revolution of 1905–07 in Russia is published by the Central Committee of the CPSU.

January 14. First unit of the Toktogul Hydroelectric Power Plant in the Kirghiz SSR is put into operation.

January 19. First production complex of the Cheboksary Industrial Tractor Plant is put into operation.

February 27. The decree On Folk Handicrafts is published by the Central Committee of the CPSU.

March 4–5. Conference of secretaries of the central committees of the Communist and workers’ parties of nine socialist countries is held in Prague.

April 18. The decree On Additional Benefits for Disabled Veterans of the Patriotic War and Families of Servicemen Who Have Died is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

April 23. The edict On Further Improving the Pensions of Families of Servicemen Killed at the Front and on Changing the Rules for Paying Pensions to Working Disabled Persons of the Third Group Who Are Veterans is issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

April 25. The jubilee medal Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45 is instituted by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

May 8. Construction is completed of the railroad line between BAM station and the settlement of Tyndinskii (Tynda), the first segment of the Baikal-Amur Main Line (BAM) to be put into operation.

May 24. The spacecraft Soyuz 18, manned by P. I. Klimuk and V. I. Sevast’ianov, is launched and docks with the space station Salyut 4 (total duration of the Soyuz 18 flight, approximately 63 days).

May 29. Report is published about the start of series production of the BelAZ-7520 dump truck, which has a capacity of 110 tons, at the Byelorussian Automobile Factory.

June 29. World’s largest machine for studying controlled fusion, the Tokamak-10, is put into operation at the I. V. Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy.

July 15–21. Flight of the spacecraft Soyuz 19, manned by A. A. Leonov and V. N. Kubasov, takes place. The Soyuz 19 docks with the Apollo spacecraft, manned by T. Stafford, V. Brand, and D. Slayton of the USA.

September 20. The USSR’s largest oil tanker, the Kuban’, with a displacement of more than 180,000 tons, is launched at Kerch’.

October 7. Gala meeting celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR is held in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses.

October 22. Capsule ejected from the unmanned probe Venera 9 makes the first soft landing on the illuminated side of Venus, invisible from the earth at the time. Pictures of the terrain in the landing area are transmitted to earth. Probe becomes an artificial satellite of Venus.

November 27. First unit of the Zeia Hydroelectric Power Plant, with a capacity of 80,000 kilowatts, is put into operation.

December 14. The Central Committee of the CPSU publishes a decree on its draft document “Basic Trends in the Development of the National Economy of the USSR Between 1976 and 1980” for the Twenty-fifth Congress of the CPSU.

December 25. The Soviet Society for Cultural Ties With Compatriots Abroad (Rodina Society) is established.

December 18. Report is published about the putting into operation of the world’s first axle rolling mill, the 250, at the F. E. Dzerzhinskii Dnepropetrovsk Metallurgical Works.

December 26. First flight of the supersonic passenger liner Tu-144 along the Moscow-Alma-Ata route takes place.

February 24 to March 5. The Twenty-fifth Congress of the CPSU is held. “Basic Trends in the Development of the National Economy of the USSR Between 1976 and 1980” is approved.

May 28. The USSR and the USA sign in Moscow a treaty on underground nuclear tests for peaceful purposes.

December 7. The city of Tula is awarded the honorary title Hero-City by edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

January 31. The decree On the 60th Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU.

February 9. The USSR and Spain establish diplomatic relations.

May 24. The plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU approves a draft of a new constitution of the USSR and recommends that the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR submit the draft to a national discussion.

June 4. Draft constitution of the USSR is published for national discussion.

June 16. L. I. Brezhnev, general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, is elected chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR at the sixth session of the ninth convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

October 7. New constitution of the USSR is adopted by the extraordinary seventh session of the ninth convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

November 2–3. Joint session of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR is held in commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. The Appeal to the Soviet People and to All the Peoples, Parliaments, and Governments of the World is issued.

January 3. The decree On the Transition to Free Use of Textbooks by Students in General-education Schools is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

January 10–16. Flight of the spacecraft Soyuz 27, manned by V. A. Dzhanibekov and O. G. Makarov, takes place. Soyuz 27 docks with the spacecraft Soyuz 26 and the space station Salyut 6, thus forming the world’s first manned research system, which is composed of a space station and two spacecraft.

January 20. The unmanned resupply spacecraft Progress 1 is launched and docks with the system Salyut 6-Soyuz 27.

February 28. First voyage of the supertanker Kuzbass (displacement, 182,000 tons) is announced.

March 2–10. As part of the Intercosmos program, the flight of the spacecraft Soyuz 28, manned by A. A. Gubarev from the USSR and V. Remek from the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, takes place. Soyuz 28 docks with the system Salyut 6-Soyuz 27.

April 12–21. New constitutions of the Union republics are adopted by the supreme soviets of the Union republics.

April 25–28. The Eighteenth Congress of the All-Union Lenin Communist Youth League (Komsomol) is held.

May 4–7. L. I. Brezhnev, general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU and chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, visits the Federal Republic of Germany. Several Soviet-West German documents are signed.

June 15 to November 2. Flight of the spacecraft Soyuz 29, manned by V. V. Kovalenok and A. S. Ivanchenkov, takes place (total duration of the flight, 140 days).

June 25. The Hero-City of Minsk is awarded the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal.

June 26 to July 5. As part of the Intercosmos program, the flight of the spacecraft Soyuz 30, manned by P. I. Klimuk from the USSR and M. Hermaszewski from the Polish People’s Republic, takes place; Soyuz 30 docks with the system Salyut 6-Soyuz 28.

June 28–30. The All-Union Congress of Schoolteachers is held in Moscow.

August 26 to September 3. As part of the Intercosmos program, the flight of the spacecraft Soyuz 31, manned by V. F. Bykovskii from the USSR and S. Jáhn from the German Democratic Republic, takes place; Soyuz 31 docks with the system Salyut 6-Soyuz 29.

October 31. Announcement is made that the USSR’s largest acrylonitrile-producing plant has been put into production at the Nitron Saratov Production Association.

December 18. First production line of the Atommash Volgodonsk Plant in Rostov Oblast is put into operation.

December 19. First unit of the Saian-Shushenskaia Hydroelectric Power Plant is put into operation.

January 6. The decree On Additional Measures for the Intensification of the Conservation of Nature and the Better Use of Natural Resources is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

January 10. Announcement is made that the first production line of the Alekseevskii Ore-dressing Combine in Kazakhstan has been put into operation.

January 17–24. All-Union population census is taken.

January 20. Power grid of the USSR is incorporated into the Mir integrated power grid of the COMECON countries.

February 25 to August 19. The flight of the spacecraft Soyuz 32, manned by V. A. Liakhov and V. V. Riumin, takes place; Soyuz 32 docks with the space station Salyut 6 (total duration of the flight, 175 days).

March 16 to May 31. Scientific-sporting expedition to the North Pole, sponsored by the newspaper Komsomol’skaia pravda, takes place.

April 10–12. As part of the Intercosmos program, the flight of the spacecraft Soyuz 33, manned by N. N. Rukavishnikov from the USSR and G. Ivanov from the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, takes place.

May 6. The decree On the Further Improvement of Ideological and Educational Work is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU.

June 7. First unit of the Nizhniaia Kama Hydroelectric Power Plant is put into operation.

June 18. The SALT-2 treaty is signed in Vienna by L. I. Brezhnev, general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU and chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and J. Carter, president of the USA.

July 18 to August 11. L. I. Brezhnev, general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU and chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, meets leaders of the Communist and workers’ parties of socialist countries in the Crimea.

July 28. The decree On the Further Improvement of the Economic Mechanism and the Tasks of the Party and State Bodies is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU.

July 29. The decree On the Improvement of Planning and the Intensification of Influence of the Economic Mechanism on Higher Production Effectiveness and Better Quality of Work is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU.

August 17. Announcement is made that the petroleum trunk pipeline from Surgut to Polotsk has been put into operation.

August 30. Announcement is made that the third phase of the Bol’shoi Stravropol’ Canal has been completed.

October 1. The Nurek Hydroelectric Power Plant begins operating at total capacity.

January 12. The decree On the Further Improvement of Work Discipline and the Reduction of Labor Turnover in the National Economy is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions.

February 26. The decree On Measures for the Further Economic and Social Development of Areas Inhabited by Peoples of the North is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

April 9 to October 11. The flight of the spacecraft Soyuz 35, manned by L. I. Popov and V. V. Riumin, takes place; Soyuz 35 docks with the system Salyut 6-Progress 8 (total duration of the flight, 185 days).

May 26 to June 3. As part of the Intercosmos program, the flight of the spacecraft Soyuz 36, manned by V. N. Kubasov from the USSR and B. Farkas from the Hungarian People’s Republic, takes place; Soyuz 36 docks with the system Salyut 6-Soyuz 35.

June 5–9. Test flight of the spacecraft Soyuz T-2, manned by Iu V. Malyshev and V. V. Aksenov, takes place; docking of the spacecraft with the system Salyut 6-Soyuz 36 is carried out.

June 23 to July 31. As part of the Intercosmos program, the flight of the spacecraft Soyuz 37, manned by V. V. Gorbatko from the USSR and Pham Tuan from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, takes place; Soyuz 37 docks with the system Salyut 6-Soyuz 36.

June 28. The Zeia Hydroelectric Power Plant in the Far East begins operating at total capacity.

July 19 to August 3. The games of the XXII Olympiad are held in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk, and Tallinn.

July 24 to August 18. L. I. Brezhnev, general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU and chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, meets leaders of Communist and workers’ parties in the Crimea.

September 18–26. As part of the Intercosmos program, the flight of the spacecraft Soyuz 38, manned by Iu. V. Romanenko from the USSR and Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez from the Republic of Cuba, takes place; Soyuz 38 docks with the system Salyut 6-Soyuz 37.

November 27 to December 10. The flight of the spacecraft Soyuz T-3, manned by L. D. Kizim, O. G. Makarov, and G. M. Strekalov, takes place; Soyuz T-3 docks with the system Salyut 6-Progress 11.

December 2. The draft document “Basic Trends in the Development of the National Economy of the USSR Between 1981 and 1985 and in the Period Until 1990,” prepared by the Central Committee of the CPSU for the Twenty-sixth Congress of the CPSU, is published for national discussion.

December 5. Leaders of the Warsaw-Pact member countries meet in Moscow.

December 8–11. L. I. Brezhnev, general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU and chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, visits India. Several joint Soviet-Indian documents are signed.

January. Construction of the Bratsk-Ust’-Ilimsk Territorial-production Complex of the Tol’iatti Mineral Fertilizer Plant is completed.

February 16. The Kama Heavy-duty Truck Production Association is put into operation.

February 23 to March 3. The Twenty-sixth Congress of the CPSU is held. The document “Basic Trends in the Development of the National Economy of the USSR Between 1981 and 1985 and in the Period Until 1990” is approved.

March 12 to May 26. The flight of the spacecraft Soyuz T-4, manned by V. V. Kovalenok and V. P. Savinykh, takes place; Soyuz T-4 docks with the system Salyut 6-Progress 12.

March 22–30. As part of the Intercosmos program, the flight of the spacecraft Soyuz 39, manned by V. A. Dzhanibekov from the USSR and Zh. Gurragcha from the Mongolian People’s Republic, takes place; Soyuz 39 docks with the system Salyut 6-Soyuz T-4.

May 14–22. The flight of the spacecraft Soyuz 40, manned by L. I. Popov from the USSR and D. Prunariu from the Socialist Republic of Rumania, takes place; Soyuz 40 docks with the system Salyut 6-Soyuz T-4.

June. The Syr Darya State Regional Electric Power Plant in Uzbekistan begins operating at total capacity.

July 17 to August 14. L. I. Brezhnev, general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU and chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, meets leaders of a number of Communist and workers’ parties of socialist countries in the Crimea.

September. Construction of the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant is completed.

November 22–25. L. I. Brezhnev, general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU and chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, visits the Federal Republic of Germany.

January. The 50th Anniversary of the USSR Mary State Regional Electric Power Plant in Turkmenistan is put into operation.

February 21. The decree On the 60th Anniversary of the Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU.

March 1. Descent capsule of the interplanetary probe Venera 13 lands on the surface of Venus and transmits scientific information and a panoramic view of Venus to the earth.

March 5. Descent capsule of the interplanetary probe Venera 14 lands on the surface of Venus and transmits scientific information and a panoramic view of Venus to the earth.

March 16–20. The Seventeenth Congress of Trade Unions of the USSR is held.

May 13–14. The flight of the spacecraft Soyuz T-5, manned by A. N. Berezovoi and V. V. Lebedev, takes place; Soyuz T-5 docks with the space station Salyut 7; and the research system Salyut 7-Soyuz T-5 begins functioning.

May 18–21. The Nineteenth Congress of the All-Union Lenin Communist Youth League (Komsomol) is held.

May 24. The plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU is held; the Food Program of the USSR for the period until 1990 is adopted.

June 24 to July 2. The flight of the spacecraft Soyuz T-6, manned by an international crew including V. A. Dzhanibekov and S. A. Ivanchenkov from the USSR and J.-L. Chrétien from France, takes place; Soyuz T-6 docks with the space system Salyut 7–Soyuz T-5.

Analysis of assemblages of pine with long, sensitive sequences from St John's House, St Andrews (Mills & Crone 1998) and from the Great Hall at Stirling Castle (Crone & Fawcett 1998) have produced robust site chronologies but could not be matched against European pine chronologies.

The single most important research application of the oak chronologies was calibration of the radiocarbon timescale, and the results of the various calibration exercises were initially published by Pearson & Stuiver (1986; 1993; Stuiver & Pearson 1986; 1993).

The book is divided into sections introducing Egyptian chronology, explaining radiocarbon dating methodology, and applying radiocarbon dating in tandem with other archaeological and textual fragments to draw chronologies of the New, Middle, and Old Kingdoms.

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